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Here’s what I’m doing to protect my family

We Americans sometimes seem to have only two settings when it comes to public health issues; “unconcern” and “panic”. (I think the media deserves a great deal of blame for this, but that’s another blog post). The last few weeks have seen the switch flipped to near panic about Ebola, after the recent infection of two Texas Health Presbyterian nurses who were treating infected patient Thomas Eric Duncan, and possible exposure of additional people after one of the nurses took a commercial flight. The fact that forty three individuals who had direct contact with Mr. Duncan have now passed the 21 day incubation period for the disease without signs of infection, that Senegal has been declared free from Ebola (no new infections have occurred there for 42 days), that Nigeria is close to the same milestone, and that the two nurses who treated Mr. Duncan, Amber Vinson and Nina Pham, are doing much better, don’t seem to make much of a dent in the fearmongering I’ve seen in recent weeks.

And now with the report that a physician with Doctors Without Borders, who recently returned to his home in New York City from West Africa, has tested positive without Ebola, the “Ebola panic” is just going to get worse.

So given the fact that I live so close to the “Ebola hospital” (just two hours!) I thought I’d share with my readers what precautions I’m taking to protect my family’s health.

2. I am donating to Doctors Without Borders, because the crisis is in West Africa and it’s critical that we stop it there. Those brave physicians and nurses are on the front lines of the battle against Ebola, and they need our support. Strangely, while stopping the outbreaks in West Africa is absolutely crucial, there’s almost no public charitable response to this crisis, in contrast to the many campaigns we see after natural disasters. I just came across #tackleEbola on Twitter, and that seems to be another good effort. I hope it takes off.

Alex Jones is, of course, an extreme example. But truthfully, how are we influenced by our entertainment? We love a good “outbreak” story–they’re deliciously scary. But this is the real world, and there are consequences when we allow our fantasies to inform our decision making. Epidemics are not entertainment, and treating them as such, ironically, allows them to get much worse.

It is absolutely appropriate to criticize the CDC and Texas Health Presbyterian for their initial mishandling of the first infections. But there is a difference between criticism and fearmongering. I have spoken with a Texas physician who was extremely critical of Texas Health Presbyterian, but told me that physicians’ and nurses’ training has drastically changed in recent weeks to include live simulations, supervisors, and other critical measures. He feels a lot more confident that their hospitals will be able to competently handle any cases, and was convinced that this wouldn’t have happened had they not learned from their earlier experiences. (I hope that this is true nation-wide).

I think we should be mindful of how our popular media has influenced us, and alert to the possibility of the press stoking our fears for attention. I think we need to think carefully about who constitutes a credible source of information here–who are the experts?–and listen to what they’re saying, rather than conspiracy theorists seeking to profit from our fears.

By cutting through the hype and panic, by thinking critically about Ebola in the context of relative risks, we can make much more rational decisions to protect ourselves and our families.

One year ago, she died from complications in childbirth, a killer that every month takes twice as many lives as the entire Ebola epidemic. ... Many of these success stories were made possible through international development aid for maternal health, which increased steadily from 2010 to 2015.

Widow of Ebola Victim, Mother of Five Cries For Assistance March 18, 2018

Her story is probably more mind grappling than some of the famous stories told about the ugly impact left behind by the world's worst deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, including Liberia in 2014. Liberia became the worst affected with more than 5000 deaths. For Shianeh, every year Decoration ...

One year ago, she died from complications in childbirth, a killer that every month takes twice as many lives as the entire Ebola epidemic. ... Many of these success stories were made possible through international development aid for maternal health, which increased steadily from 2010 to 2015.

Widow of Ebola Victim, Mother of Five Cries For Assistance March 18, 2018

Her story is probably more mind grappling than some of the famous stories told about the ugly impact left behind by the world's worst deadly Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, including Liberia in 2014. Liberia became the worst affected with more than 5000 deaths. For Shianeh, every year Decoration ...